GENESIS CHAPTER 38 ------------------ Note: This chapter is completely taken up with the matters of Judah, of whose tribe the Lord Jesus Christ sprang. Verse 1, Some have thought that the time here was before Joseph was sold into Egypt, but Gill says that it makes more sense that it was when Judah had left his brethren after the matter with Joseph. Adullamite = see Adullam "justice of the people" 1) an inhabitant of Adullam Hirah = "a noble race" 1) an Adullamite, the friend of Judah Verse 2, The Canaanite who had the daughter was named Shuah. Shuwa` {shoo'-ah} Shuah = "wealth" 1) father of Judah's wife "he took her" = laqach {law-kakh'} AV - take 747, receive 61, take away 51, fetch 31, bring 25, get 6, take out 6, carry away 5, MARRIED 4, buy 3, misc 26; 965 1) to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, MARRY, TAKE A WIFE, snatch, take away 1a) (Qal) Verses 3-6, Judah's has three sons born to him by his Canaanite wife. Er {ayr} = "awake" 1) the eldest son of Judah Onan {o-nawn'} = "strong" 1) second son of Judah, slain by God for not fulfilling the levitical requirement to beget a child with the wife of a dead, childless brother Shelah {shay-law'} = "a petition" 1) the youngest son of Judah slain by God for refusing to obey the law for levirate marriage with Tamar Evidently Judah and his wife both were at Chezib when she bare her third son Shelah. The KJV says "he" however Gill says "she" was. Chezib {kez-eeb'} = "false" 1) a town in Judah Judah chose a wife for his 1st born son, Er, whose name was Tamar {taw-mawr'}. Tamar {taw-mawr'} = "palm-tree" Verse 7, Er was wicked and the LORD slew him, which left Tamar a widow. Verse 8, This must have been a custom at this time of which perhaps was directed by the LORD to Israel, since in the time of Moses it was passed into a law. Deut 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. 6 And it shall be, [that] the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother [which is] dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. Judah tells his 2nd son, Onan, to take Er's wife, Tamar, to be his wife and to give her a child so that his brother's name will continue in Israel. Verses 9-10, But Onan, knowing the child will not be his but his brother's in the legal sense, withheld his seed from her. The act displeased the LORD, because he was not giving his brother a child, and the LORD slew him. Verse 11, Judah's third son is too young at this time to take Tamar to be his wife so Judah commands Tamar to go back to her father's house till the time that his 3rd son, Shelah, was old enough to take her as a wife. Compare: Matt 22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. {seventh: Gr. seven} 27 And last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. For he said (probably within himself), "Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren [did]. He was trying to put off his 3rd son from marrying Tamar. Gill thinks his third son was perhaps only a year younger than his 2nd son. Verse 12, Some time has gone by, and Judah's wife has died, and Judah has never sent for Tamar to be the wife of his third son, yet he had asked her to remain unmarried in her father's house. After Judah was through mourning for his wife, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite, went to Timnath where his sheepshears were. Gill says that it was custom for the owner to give a feast at this time, so Judah was probably going to entertain his sheepshearers in Timnath. Timnath or Timnah or Thimnathah = "portion" 1) a town on the northern boundary of Judah later assigned to Dan 2) a town in the hill country of Judah Verses 13-14, Tamar heard of Judah's going to Timnath, so she took off her widow clothes and put a vail on to conceal herself, but not to play the harlot, which Judah thought her to be. It is then that she sees that Shelah has grown up, yet she still remains a widow. She probably realizes that Judah had no intentions to give her to Shelah to be his wife. Verse 15, Judah thinks that she is a harlot. Verses 16-19, Judah had no idea that this woman is his daughter- in-law, and he propositions her. Though he knows not that he is committing incest, yet he has little thought about committing fornication. She knows what she is doing, yet is probably setting Judah up, because of his failure in his promise to her. Gill thinks that she may have known that Messiah was to come from the line of Jacob and perhaps wanted to be part of it, overlooking the sin that was involved. Compare: Mat 1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; Her son from Judah is in the line of the Messiah. Judah told her he would give her a kid from his flock, but she asked for his personnel belongings till he came back with the kid. She plotted against Judah to trap him later. From this union with Judah, she conceived and would bare two sons, Pharez and Zarah, of which Pharez is in the line of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. Verses 20-22, Judah's friend cannot find her and he learns that there was no harlot in the first place. Verse 23, Judah decides to let her have the pledge, since they had tried to give her the pledge, and besides trying to find her, to pay her for her services, would only bring shame to Judah for his sin. It was considered sin even among the heathen. Verse 24, When Judah learns, three months later, that Tamar had played the harlot, he calls for her in his wrath, and wants to condemn her to be burnt for her sin of playing the whore, forgetting that he had laid with a harlot, so he thought, some 3 months before. Verses 25-26, When she reveals the truth to Judah he realizes his sin and says that she has been more righteous than he, not that any of this was righteousness, but that his sin was greater than hers, because he had not kept his promise to her. He knew her no more in the carnal way, nor did he ever have any children after this. He must of had true repentance for what he had done. Verses 27-30, The two twins are born. Zarah appeared to be coming out first and the midwife marked him with a scarlet thread, since the first born had special privileges, but Pharez was born first, who is in the line of the Messiah. Perez or Pharez = "breach" 1) twin son with Zarah of Judah by Tamar and ancestor of two families of Judah, the Hezronites and Hamulites; from the Hezronites came the royal line of David and Christ Zerah or Zarah = "rising" 2) twin brother of Pharez, sons of Judah and Tamar; descendants are called Zarhites, Ezrahites, and Izrahites Some Notes on this chapter: This chapter is put in between Joseph being sold to the Midianites by his brothers, who in turn sold him into Egypt. Of course this speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ who was of the nation of Israel, and their redeemer, being rejected by them and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. And from that time, God has had no further dealings with Israel AS A NATION and has turned to the Gentiles. Now in this chapter only Judah and matters concerning him, are mentioned before we go back to Joseph in Egypt. Long before Jesus was rejected by the Jews, Israel (the ten tribes, that is) had ceased to have a seperate history, and the Jews that rejected Christ were of Judah. Hence, Judah, foreshadows the history of the Jews since their rejection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In verse 2 we see Judah going to a Canaanite. The word translated Canaanite was also translated "merchant" two other times in the Old Testament and can mean "a merchant, or trader." The name of the Canaanite, whose daughter he married, means "wealth". So we see that the Jews, since their rejection of Christ, have married into merchants and wealth. Of course everyone knows that the biggest merchants in the world have been Jews. They are know for being merchants and having the ability to make money. We also see that Judah commited fornication and that two children were born from this. One whos name means "breach" which may represent those Jews who make a covenant with the Antichrist and then there was Zarah who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand which may represent the remnant who are to be saved by his grace. Remember it was Rahab who hung a "scarlet thread" in the window that she was saved from being destroyed with the rest of her people.